Chowbus: bringing you food in an unmarked van since 2015

A couple weeks ago I encountered a friend standing forlornly in the rain. His explanation: "spicy scallops."

It turns out there's an app called Chowbus, operating only in the Chicago area (sorry, everyone else), that delivers authentic meals from Chinatown to a variety of pick-up spots including The Regenstein Library a.k.a. my second home. My friend gestured to the curbside, saying "see that white car there? Where all the students are lined up?" And this makes sense, because for a while now, I've noticed folks on campus tucking into amazing-looking Chinese food. I assumed there was some mystery food truck somewhere. But no. This is the 21st century, after all.

The way it works: menu rotates daily, with a different area restaurant and 10-12 dishes to choose from. You enter your credit card info into the app. Order any time before 11am that day (as early as afternoon/evening before) and it'll charge your credit card. There's a $1 fee for delivery, and note that the service only operates Monday-Friday, so Friday orders will arrive on Monday.

I couldn't resist trying the app when a daily menu included my favorite eggplant from Ed's Potsticker House in Bridgeport.

As you can see, though: it's a bit pricey for lunch. I was hoping there would be a lot of food for $11. 

The lunch has arrived. Please tell me that's my name in Chinese characters.

Inside: not only eggplant, but also mixed green veggies in a light sauce and scallion pancakes.

Tastes just as I remembered. Yum.

My overall assessment:

Pros: Food was delicious, quantity was fairly large, and I appreciated the variety, with greens and pancakes tossed in just for fun. A nice treat.

Cons: Appealing vegetarian options are few and far between. I waited two weeks before a tasty vegetarian menu item appeared. (Most of the veggie food: mixed vegetables, Buddha's delight, etc.) If you're a meat-eater, you'll probably have a ball. But the biggest con: it's quite expensive. Few students can afford $11 every day for lunch. On rare occasion, treat yo self, but for the most part this app will lie dormant on my phone.

It was worth a shot just to feel like an insider for a day!

Update 7/18: I gave the Chowbus one more shot today, with an order of (you guessed it) eggplant in garlic sauce from Lao Sze Chuan. Even though it was listed with a giant green "veggie" and ingredients were posted for allergy concerns, the surprise side-dish was only vegetarian by loose Chinatown standards: cabbage with little baby shrimps. Which meant I couldn't eat 1/3 of the meal. A big disappointment to all you vegetarian eggplant fanatics trying out a random food delivery app that operates only in Chicago. You know who you are.